ILLDISPOSED — There's Something Rotten... in the State of Denmark (review)

ILLDISPOSED — There's Something Rotten... in the State of Denmark album cover Album · 1997 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"There's Something Rotten... in the State of Denmark" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Illdisposed. The album was released through Serious Entertainment in 1997. The album title is taken from Shakespeare's "Hamlet", where the Character "Marcellus" says: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark". Since the release of "Submit (1995)" there has been one lineup change as lead guitarist Morten Gilsted has been replaced by Tore Mogensen.

Shakespeare influenced album title or not there´s not much sophisticated Shakespeare theater about Illdisposed or the music on this album. This is pretty much a continuation of the groove oriented death metal style of "Submit (1995)", just featuring a few more melodeath elements. New guitarist Tore Mogensen also makes sure to put his mark on the music with some very well played and melodic guitar solos. So there´s a good balance between brutal and groove oriented death metal riffing, melodic solos, and melodeath harmonies. There´s a nod or two towards death´n´roll too on the album, which provides the album with even more groove. Lead vocalist Bo Summer delivers a good performance too, with both deep growling vocals and higher pitched aggressive ditto. The album even features a clean vocal section. The atmosphere of the album is mostly dark and aggressive, although the melodic content provide it with a bit of light and positivity. Illdisposed never took themselves too seriously though, and of course they close the album with a "fun" track like "Horsens Highway". If I didn´t know better I would have guessed it was a Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention avant garde rock track from the late 60s.

The material on the 11 track, 39:01 minutes long album are pretty consistent in quality, with only a few lows but also featuring few above standard highs. Illdisposed´s greatest asset is their brutal grooves (and on this release the melodic guitar solos), and they are best when they focus on those and weakest when they focus on more generic sounding melodeath oriented sections. "There's Something Rotten... in the State of Denmark" is relatively well produced featuring a raw and powerful sound production which suits the music well, and upon conclusion it´s one of the better albums in the band´s discography and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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